February 11, 2007

aisy went down last night. We are not sure of the cause, but we suspect another cow slammed her. We spent most of the night out there with her to keep and eye on her and prevent any predators from eating her. Thankfully it was not that cold, only -7C and we pitched the tent and got sleeping bags out. I tossed a feather blanket over the cow to keep her warm.  She is eating and drinking well. She acts normal other than she won't get up. 

We put canvas tarps under her and had 6 people (thankfully we had hefty snowmobilers who came along about an hour after I discovered her), but to no avail. She would not even try to stand. 

We considered slinging her with the tractor, but we do not have a place with sturdy enough beams to hang her from. I called my friend who is yet still another vet tech and who has a several thousand acre cattle ranch to pick her brain. She also agrees she is stumped about what is wrong with the cow since she has mobility on everything and she talked me out of slinging "Daisy" for a bit. She said they do not sling their cows for at least 2 days and most of them tend to be OK. We discussed it and agreed if she is not doing better by tomorrow she will bring me some Banamine home after she consults her doctor and checks the Compendium to make sure there is no contradictions with the calf. However, I would rather loose the calf than the cow. 

So for today, I am just going to mix her up some electrolytes as there is no where available to get them today. For anyone else's use:

Homemade Electrolytes:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 TB sugar
1 quart of water

...and give her as much hay as she wants. I gave her molasses twice with whole oats to give her instant energy last night, but I will play it by ear as the day goes on.

If you want to see pictures of who "Dasiy" is, click here .